The Vikings fell to the Lions 30-24 on Sunday, losing their chance at the division title in the process. I, a lifelong Vikings fan, was in attendance at the game, and this is my honest opinion of it.
Offense
Like most Vikings games this season, the offense had its ups, and its downs.
There was promise coming into this game against the Lions after Ty Chandler looked to repeat his great performance against the Bengals. Unfortunately, the Lions showed why their run defense is ranked 1st in the league, holding the Vikings to just 17 rushing yards.
In my opinion, Kevin O’Connell just didn’t try to run the ball enough, as the majority of the runs came in the red zone. There were chances missed to run the ball throughout the entire game.
Receiving was a huge positive for the offense, with Justin Jefferson having 6 receptions for 141 yards and 1 touchdown, KJ Osborn having 5 receptions for 95 yards and 1 touchdown, and TJ Hockenson having 4 receptions for 58 yards.
The receiving game could not have been any better than it was during the game. The only criticism that could be made is on Jordan Addison. On one of Nick Mullens’ interceptions, he underthrew Addison, where Addison made no attempt to come back to the ball. A similar throw was made to KJ Osborn in the second half, and Osborn made the adjustment to make the catch.
As for the passing game, I think I speak for all Vikings fans when I say that I miss Kirk Cousins. Nick Mullens threw for 411 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. Nick Mullens clearly did not have the arm strength to get the ball down field when the Vikings needed to. Out of the 4 interceptions, 3 were balls that were underthrown, and of course the pass that was thrown behind Jefferson to end the game.
Mullens also needs to control the ball better, having almost fumbled the ball in the first half, and trying to throw the ball while being sacked on the last drive. Ball security is extremely important for quarterbacks, and Vikings fans have seen Kirk Cousins improve in that department over the years. The question is, is Mullens the guy to roll with moving forward?
As for the offensive line, there were good moments and bad moments. Having Ed Ingram back improved the line significantly from what we’ve seen the last couple weeks. Darrisaw and Quessenberry, who were starting at tackle, seemed to struggle throughout the game, especially when lining up against Aiden Hutchinson. The O-Line also did not seem prepared for the blitz, with cornerback Ifeatu Melifonwu getting 2 sacks, and safety Brian Branch getting 1 sack. The O-Line is missing Brian O’Neill a lot.
Defense
The Vikings defense under Brian Flores has improved massively, and has brought out the best in players that have struggled in previous years.
The defensive line was solid for most of the game, with Danielle Hunter, DJ Wonnum, Patrick Jones, and Harrison Phillips making stops at the line and hurrying Jared Goff for a lot of the game. Patrick Jones would have the lone Vikings sack in the game. Danielle Hunter continued to take up TFLs, while DJ Wonnum and Harrison Phillips managed to stuff the run a few times. Even though the run was stuffed a few times, the run offense of the Lions killed the Vikings, with Jahmyr Gibbs totaling 80 yards and 2 touchdowns, and David Montgomery totaling 55 yards and 1 touchdown.
The defensive line play well, but struggled for most of the game, with the Lions taking advantage of the 50% blitz rate by running the ball whenever the Vikings only had three D-Linemen on the field.
The linebackers played a great game, pressuring Goff on blitzes, knocking passes down, and making hard tackles in open field and the back field. Jordan Hicks returned from injury, and showed why he deserves to remain in Minnesota, having 9 total tackles, and almost having a forced fumble. Ivan Pace Jr. continued his great rookie reason, having 4 tackles and a fumble recovery.
The pass defense was not spectacular. With Byron Murphy Jr. being out with injury, Akayleb Evans, Mekhi Blackmon, and Andrew Booth Jr. were starting at corner. Lions receivers were getting the ball extremely easily, and the coverage felt soft. By the end of the third quarter, Akayleb Evans had been benched for Theo Jackson. Mekhi Blackmon ended up getting injured in the 4th quarter, which prompted Jaylin Williams to make his first appearance of the season.
The inexperienced Vikings secondary just couldn’t catch up with the Lions receivers.
The biggest issue that the defense had though, was 3rd down defense. The Lions went 6/12 on third down, converting most of them in the first three quarters. The middle of the field and the flats were always open for Goff to dump the ball off to receivers, and first downs were easily picked up.
Referees
The referees in the game made calls that confused everyone in the stadium. There were many bad calls, and many that didn’t make any sense.*
*Please take note that these are my opinions based on what I saw at the game and replays shown on the jumbotron.
To begin with, Pat Jones II was flagged for roughing the passer on a 3rd and 21, which resulted in a Lions first down in Vikings territory. In the video shown below, Jones clearly hits Goff in the chest and doesn’t go through with a full tackle. How this is roughing the passer is beyond my belief, and no angle of the hit looks anything like a roughing the passer call.
https://x.com/willragatz/status/1738997767513542946?s=46
On that same drive, linebacker Jordan Hicks hit Jared Goff, causing what should have been a fumble returned for a touchdown by Cam Bynum. The unfortunate part is that the refs let the play continue and then let the play be reviewed without any referee interference.
“It was confirmed via the replay assist, which was unfortunate, because I would have loved to just hear that it was an official’s ruling and maybe I could have thrown the flag and took it to the challenge,” O’Connell said. “The views I had, I did not necessarily see it the same way. That’s why I’m on our sideline and not on the field officiating the game. So clearly maybe it’s — there was some views I did not see. That’s momentum in its purest form when your defense can force a turnover and get seven points out of it.”
An unnecessary roughness call on guard Ed Ingram brought the Vikings back 15 yards, and the drive ended in an interception. No replay could find a proper look at the penalty, even in the stadium. How an entire camera crew could miss such a pivotal penalty in the game is insane, and it appeared to be extremely soft on the game replay.
Probably the worst call of the game came against the Lions. Safety Kerby Joseph hit a defenseless Justin Jefferson after he made a catch, and rightfully got an unnecessary roughness penalty. Where the refs went wrong here is not throwing Joseph out of the game. Time and time during this season, we have seen safeties such as Kareem Jackson and Damontae Kazee get ejected for very similar hits. Joseph led with his helmet, and struck Jefferson in his upper chest, lower neck area. Joseph deserved to be ejected, but was not.
There was an illegal contact call on Vikings rookie cornerback Jaylin Williams in the 4th quarter, however the contact shown as ‘illegal’ looked like every piece of defending seen on the field that day.
“The illegal contact on Jaylin Williams, knowing how they were defending us a lot of the day with some hands on in the move area, (need to) go back and take a look at that as well,” O’Connell said.
Injuries
The Vikings suffered four injuries on the field on Sunday that impacted their gameplay significantly.
Defensive end and Vikings second leader in sacks DJ Wonnum was a victim of the turf monster, collapsing to the ground while trying to chase down Jared Goff. Wonnum suffered a torn quad tendon and will miss the remainder of the season.
Vikings star tight end TJ Hockenson went down after being hit low by safety Kerby Joseph. I will point out that this could have been avoided had Joseph been ejected after his hit on Jefferson. Hockenson suffered a torn ACL and MCL and will miss the remainder of the season.
Cornerback Mekhi Blackmon and wide receiver Jordan Addison went out with a shoulder and ankle injury, and kept them out of the rest of the game.
All of these injuries suffered by Vikings players impacted the game severely.
Wonnum was getting after Goff all game before his injury, and had made it difficult for the Lions pass game to function.
Hockenson was having your average TJ Hockenson game, reeling in a ton of catches, and racking up the yards. Backup Johnny Mundt came in and had a good gain on the final drive, but that was forgotten almost instantly after the game sealing interception.
Blackmon was having one of his best games of the season, already having 5 tackles by the time of his injury in the third quarter.
Addison had been quiet for most of the game, but not having that third threat at wide receiver made for some missed opportunities on the final drives of the game.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere inside of US Bank Stadium was absolutely electric from the start. The fans knew the implications of the game, and came ready.
This game was also the Vikings ‘Winter Whiteout’, where they asked fans to wear all white. Vikings fans delivered, with a majority of fans wearing white.
Minnesota Wild player Brock Faber led the Skol Chant and sounded the Gjallarhorn, and when he was announced, I have never heard a louder ovation at any game that I have been to.
The loudest reactions of the game came when there was a penalty or call that just did not seem right. On the roughing the passer call, and forced fumble that was called back, boos rang out through US Bank Stadium, and didn’t stop until the Lions drive ended.
Around halfway through the third quarter, the fans in the endzones began a ‘Refs you suck’ chant to show how bad the referees had been throughout the entirety of the game.
Fans were constantly trying to drown out any Lions fans that were near them, as when any cheer from a Lions fan began, Vikings fans would begin chanting “Let’s go Vikings’.
On third downs, all fans got to their feet and made as much noise as possible. I have no idea if this played a factor, but the Lions ended up committing 3 delay of games, all on third downs.
When the offense was rolling, the stadium was at its loudest, with fans doing everything they could to edge the Vikings on towards a victory.
With the Vikings not coming out on the winning side of the game, the Lions take home the NFC North Division title for the first time in over 30 years. There is still a route to the playoffs for the Vikings, but chances are much less likely now.
